Appleshare IP on Linux - page 2

Introduction

August 26, 1999

By
Ian Wilkinson

Getting the Software

There are two types of AppleTalk, classic AppleTalk and AppleShareIP. AppleShareIP basically wraps up the AppleTalk packets in TCP/IP, and is slightly faster as well. Client support for AppleShareIP has been in place since System 7.5.5. Classic AppleTalk is just that, the networking protocol developed way back in the 80's. Anyone remember LocalTalk and PhoneNet connectors? You can get the software from ftp://ftp.u.washington.edu/public/asun/ Download , uncompress and untar it somewhere. I like to stick things like this in /usr/src for consistency. The install is pretty straight forward, once you have source. At this point I would consult the online HOWTO; Mr. Brownworth maintains a much more complete and technical HOWTO than I ever could write. The nitty-gritty details of downloading, compiling and installing the source code can be found here, as well as links to online mailing lists and FAQ's. Look there for specifics on your install. There are pre-compiled binaries available as well, with and without shadow support.

LinuxPPC, which runs on most PPC based computers including Power Macs, comes with an RPM of Netatalk. I'm not sure if it is part of the default install, and depending on the distribution that you have, it may be on the CD.

Starting the Server

After installing Netatalk check that the following lines are in your /etc/services file:

If you installed using RPM there should be a line in /etc/rd.d/rc3.d/S91atalk That should launch the server on reboot. Or you can launch it manually by typing "/usr/sbin/atalkd", which will start a classic AppleTalk server, and "/usr/sbin/afpd", which will start an AppleShareIP server.

Configuration Hints

Once the Netatalk daemon is installed, most of the configuration is done by editing three files, "AppleVolumes.default", where you define shares and their options; "config", which controls aspects of how the daemon functions, and "afpd.conf", which defines some of the more esoteric functions like pretending to be multiple servers and guest acess. Everything else gets automagically configured from the network. It may take a few more seconds to reboot, since atalkd will probe the network before registering itself.

A Note on Passwords

One thing to remember is that AppleTalk only allows 8 character passwords. Anything longer and you won't be able to log in. Everything I have read says to not even attempt to login as root, so I've never tried. I wouldn't suggest it anyway. Netatalk will also create an invisible directory called .AppleDouble on all of the AppleTalk shares that are defined. You can safely ignore this, since it won't show up in the directory listing you get.